Motor vehicle steering wheels commonly include a metal hub having a bore therethrough with straight and tapered portions. The straight portion is internally splined and receives an externally splined straight end of a steering shaft. The tapered portion receives a correspondingly tapered shoulder on the steering shaft adjacent the straight end. A blocked spline tooth is received in a groove in the straight end of the shaft for angular alignment of the steering wheel relative to the steering shaft. The tapered portion of the hub bore is forcibly seated on the tapered shoulder on the shaft, and the hub is retained on the shaft, by a steering wheel retaining nut on a threaded end of the steering shaft. The splines on the shaft and on the hub have tight manufacturing tolerances and are, therefore, relatively expensive to manufacture and difficult to assemble. The longitudinal position of the steering wheel on the steering shaft, i.e. "draw down", is difficult to control due to the combined effects of the torque tolerance range applicable to the steering wheel retaining nut and manufacturing tolerances applicable to the tapered portion of the hub bore and to the tapered shoulder on the steering shaft.